‘This book is my goal, my purpose, and no one is going to stop me from achieving it. Not even you.’
With those words, Katherine reaches for me.
‘No!’ I protest as her hands scrabble to pry mine from the banister.
‘Let go, or I will break every finger you have.’
To prove her point, Katherine peels the little finger on my right hand back and twists it. I cry out, my howl peaking when the bone pops to announce it has broken.
Katherine gasps in delight. ‘That’s the noise Alexa’s fingers made, too!’
She reaches for my hands once more, but her joy is cut short by a knock at the front door.
Before my lips can part to shout for help, Katherine clamps her hand over my mouth. I scream against it, a mixture of snot and tears dampening her skin. My shouts only make Katherine hold tighter.
Whoever is at the door knocks again before flipping open the letterbox.
‘Hello?’ they call out into the house. ‘Janine, are you there?’
I would recognise that voice anywhere, even through the thickest haze of terror.
Beth.
Beth is at the door.
CHAPTER 51
Katherine feels my body lurch at the sound of my sister’s voice. Her hand crushes my mouth as she lowers her face inches away from mine. ‘If you scream, I will kill her. Do you understand?’
I don’t have to question if Katherine is serious about her threat. I can tell by the manic glint in her eyes.
‘Janine?’ Beth calls again through the letterbox. ‘I know you’re here. We set up Find My Phone last night, remember?’
Hatred fills Katherine’s features. ‘Of course you did,’ she mutters before grabbing the knife from the floor. She holds it to my throat, the chill of the blade icing my pulse. ‘You scream, she dies, got it?’
When I nod, Katherine’s hand loosens. She pauses, ready to strike should a peep come from me, but I remain silent.
‘Good girl,’ Katherine says as she stands. She slips the knife into her back pocket and smooths down her appearance before skipping down the stairs with a jovial trill of, ‘Coming!’
Resting my forehead against the banister, I watch Katherine open the front door halfway. The angle I’m laid at means I can’t see Beth, but I can see the knife sticking out of the back of Katherine’s jeans.
Run, I itch to scream, but the chilling threat of the weapon warns me of the consequence of that shout.
‘Is everything okay?’ Katherine asks.
‘I don’t know, that’s why I’m here. Do you know Janine Rai?’ The concern in my sister’s voice breaks me in a whole new way, and a single tear slides from the corner of my right eye.
‘Janine? Yes, she’s in my writing group. Wonderful woman. Is everything okay with her?’
‘That’s what her husband and I are trying to figure out. She came to speak to Otis Clarke earlier, but she’s not been home since. We saw online that he’s been arrested, so there’s no reason for her to still be here. Her car’s parked on the road, but she’s nowhere to be found.’
‘How odd. Have you tried calling her?’
‘Countless times, but she isn’t picking up. Recently, she’s been a fan of putting her phone on Do Not Disturb.’ At the irritation in Beth’s voice, Katherine lets out an expertly acted sigh of concern.
‘Well, I can see why you’re worried, but I’m afraid I haven’t seen Janine since our last writing group meet-up.’
I drag myself along the landing to peek at my sister, but the closer I get to the top of the stairs, it’s only more of Katherine’s hallway that comes into view.